For what it’s worth, this has been a terrible year for movies and I think most of you would agree. Even when I talk to my friends that aren’t hard-core into cinema like I am, I hear the same sentiment. "Man, there just hasn’t been any good movies this year, has there?" I die a little inside when I’m forced to confirm their suspicions.

I’m pretty sure there is some kind of statistic floating around out there that spells out just how awful this year has been. I think if you add up the number of crappy sequels, pointless remakes and movies made from lame televisions shows, it would have to be upwords of 80% of Hollywood’s total output this year.

You could accuse Hollywood of having run out of ideas. But fundimentally, we’ve been gathering around the proverbial campfire listening to the same stories of horror, drama, romance and comedy since mankind developed spoken language. In other words – Has everything else been done before? The answer is a resounding "YES." So what I’m saying is, don’t get mad because there’s been a lack of new ideas on screen.

What Hollywood has FAILED to do is find a way to say new things about old ideas. I can’t imagine anything more insulting to a thinking person’s sensibilities than to take a television show that aired 50 years ago like The Honeymooners, retool it with black actors, film it and dump it into theaters and claim that you’ve done something original. I choke at the thought that anyone felt strongly enough to make Cheaper By The Dozen 2 and then said, "We really don’t have a plot for this. Let’s just rip off that old John Candy movie The Great Outdoors. That’ll do."

I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know and I hate to look at the glass as being half-empty. Will 2006 be a better year? I don’t know. But I guess the fun is trying to figure that out, isn’t it? After all, it’s why we keep going back. Or at least why I keep going back.

It’s funny. People (and by "people," I mean me) bitch and moan about the state of things, but yet keep filing back into the theaters. As angry as I get watching bad movies from time to time, I can’t imagine ever seeing something so awful that I would write off watching movies entirely. Because for every Herbie: Fully Loaded, there will be a Walk the Line. And as your tastes refine, the challenge becomes weaving your way through the traffic and finding that one piece of film that communicates with you directly and reflects something about yourself you never considered.

That’s what good art does. It helps you grow as a person. Who would turn their back on that?

I have some more thoughts regarding the end of the year, but I kind of like the tenor of this post, so I’ll leave it at that. I’ll be back later in the day with more thoughts relating to 2005, Theater Hopper and our direction for 2006.

Johnny Knoxville isn’t 50 years-old, as IMDB corroborates. But he might as well be considering that he’s been getting tazed in the balls for the last 10 years. I mean, seriously, at what point does it get old?

The first Jackass came out in 2002. Jackass Number Two came out in 2006 and now in 2010 we get Jackass 3D. It’s kind of interesting how all three movies are evenly spaced out by four years a piece. I suppose that’s how long it takes to get a clean bill of health from your physical therapist.

I can’t help but feel that Jackass 3D was rushed to production in order to take advantage of the 3D trend in theaters right now. For some reason I can easily picture some executive at MTV cynically pitching the idea. “Hey! Everyone loves 3D and this would be the third Jackass movie – we can work it right into the title!”

Part of me wants to see Jackass 3D largely because I remember what an amazing experience it was to watch the original Jackass in a packed theater on a Friday night back in 2002. People grossed out and howling, gasping in shock – it was great.

I think I must have blocked out Jackass Number Two, though. Because when I asked Cami if she had any interest in watching Jackass 3D this weekend, her opposition to the idea was much stronger than presented in the comic.

“I liked the first Jackass,” she said. “But I remember sitting in the theater for the second movie thinking this was the dumbest waste of time I ever saw. I nearly threw up a couple of times.”

In fairness, she was pregnant with Henry at the time. But, still.

I guess I’m kind of afraid of how Jackass 3D will leverage 3D technology. Innately, you know it’s going to be horrible. And as much as I had a good time with the first movie, I know I don’t need to see a boil on Chris Pontius’s backside in 3D. I really don’t.

Sorry again for the late comic. I’ve just been having a rough couple of weeks. First we moved, then I got sick, then we started unpacking and I got sick again. Our house is a mess and Cami and I are breaking down. We work all day, come home and take care of the kids and then you only have a couple of hours to put things away before you have to go to bed and do it all over again.

In our old house, I would hang out in my office all the time. Now the ONLY time I’m in my office is when I’m working on the comic. It’s kind of a drag. I’m hoping we can fall into a routine soon. Until then, I continue to appreciate your patience and understanding.

In the meantime, how is everyone feeling about Jackass 3D? Are you making plans to see it this weekend or are you kind of nervously anticipating it like I am? Leave your comments below!